


Hot Skin, Cold Touch

by Starshaker



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Drugged Character, Hux weilding Kylo's lightsaber, Lightsabers, M/M, Mind Meld, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, POV Kylo Ren, Protective Hux, Sand worm, Vague Dune References, Violence, must work together to survive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 04:49:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6409471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starshaker/pseuds/Starshaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After narrowly escaping a Resistance attack General Hux and Kylo Ren crash land on a desert planet neither of them recognise. Everything from the indigenous life to the weather conditions work to prove fatal to the pair. When they finally come face to face with a human-like population living deep in the desert the pair still struggle to reassert themselves. They have to work together in order to get back to civilisation in one piece. (Very vaguely based on a Dune (Frank Herbert) crossover but no knowledge of the series is necessary.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Skin, Cold Touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aknightfornawt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aknightfornawt/gifts).



“Leave now,” Kylo Ren told the troopers and officers who still hesitated. “I’ll get the General off the planet before the Resistance get here. Clear us a run out of the system in two minutes.”

He stalked down two corridors, the force seemed still and quiet around him. Like it was waiting in anticipation of some great ripple. Ren ducked into the command room of the base to see Hux frantically typing into a small dashboard.

“We have to leave,” Kylo said without moving further than the doorway. Hux didn’t look up. “Now,”

“There is key analysis and strategy in these consoles, I have to destroy it manually before the Resistance get their hands on it,” Hux snapped, still not sparing a glance back. The consoles were stalling. Ren raised a hand and the machines immediately sparked and shorted out and the machine Hux was working on exploded before him. The general threw up an arm to shield himself .

“Done, now go. My shuttle is waiting,” Kylo said again as Hux pushed himself to his feet and stepped quickly past him. Two pieces of the console had caught him; on the cheek and a small trail of blood could be seen between the General’s sleeve. Kylo's eyes followed the red trail to his wrist where it disappeared beneath his glove.

Kylo waved a hand out behind himself at each doorway and the blast doors shut forcefully behind them. They would slow down the Resistance a fraction. He did the same as he followed Hux aboard the ship and the rear ramp craned up and sealed shut. 

“What are you doing?” He asked as he stepped into the cockpit to see Hux had taken the pilot’s seat.  
“I have experience in evasive piloting.” Hux explained.  
“A hundred hours in a simulator,” Kylo drawled, “Get out of my seat,”  
“We don’t have time for this,” Hux snapped at him in temper, “Where are your damned overrides?”  
“This ship was designed by me, for me,”  


Hux shoved himself back as Kylo began initiating the systems and setting a course before he’d even sat down. He could feel Hux’s anger at another lost base simmering in the very air around them, it was louder than the cacophony of vibrations in the force in the skies above them now the Resistance had arrived. The shuttle pelted out between the lines of First Order shuttles and transports and ducked beneath the main gathering of TIE fighters and attack vessels.

“Those aren’t the formations I told them to use,” Hux muttered, perhaps to himself.  
“You were overruled,” Kylo said as he calibrated the sensors and they blinked to life. Stormtroopers had not been delicate in their repairwork on the defense systems, “They’ll pull back now you’re out and regroup with the primary fleet,”  
“Then where are we going?” General Hux asked, “Why haven’t you jumped yet?”  
“We have a tail,” Kylo said absently.  
“Lose it,”  
“Really, I thought you might have liked to lead them back to Lord Snoke and share a last meal,” Kylo replied. The voice simulator only added to his droll tone, “Sit down, things may get bumpy,”

True to his predictions, they did. The pilot on their tail was skilled in their manoeuvres and sparing but accurate in their attacks. Kylo hissed when the third hit jolted them forwards.  
“We need to make the jump,”  
“I am!” He lurched for the hyperspeed lever and rolled it upwards smoothly. Suddenly another hit caught them and the ship faltered sideways and Kylo’s hand shoved the hyperspeed into full power too quickly for the systems to acclimatise. They’d jumped but the engines were straining and the whole vessel shuddered. 

He dropped the ship out of hyperspace and the view around them was suddenly consumed by a huge orange-yellow planet. The gravity pulled them in before the engines and other systems could register how damaged they were and what exactly wasn’t responding.  
“We’re going down but I can land it, I think,”Ren insisted as he read off the various dials and screens above and around him.  
“You think?”  
“Yes!” He snapped.  
“Raise the shields before we burn up on entry,” Hux shouted. His fist was tight clenched around the handle on the console at his side.  
“I need the power to engines to slow our descent to the ground,” Kylo argued.  
“We won’t get to the ground unless you put the shields up,” Hux yelled over the shuttle. His voice trembled at their entry into the atmosphere shook the vessel. The seams and bolts were wrenched to their breaking point.  
“I’ve got this!,” Kylo insisted as he convinced himself that he could hold the ship together by sheer force of will, “Just hold on,”

The craft spun as it pelted down toward the planet’s surface. Kylo scrambled to balance it out until it slowed enough that when it hit the sandy dune covered planet it skidded to a halt. Both men sat for a moment. A persistent beep sounded just behind Kylo, but he was too relieved at remaining in one piece to look at what it was signifying.  
“Where are we?”  
“I don’t know, we dropped out of hyperspace about thirty seconds into the jump. We’re out of that system but I would’ve thought it should be dead space out here.  
“Maybe you got the coordinates wrong,” Hux snarked as he stretched out his neck and shoulders where they’d no doubt been jolted on landing.  
“Well they were the coordinates you issued,” Kylo countered and Hux glared down at him.  
“Are the sensors picking up any life signs?” Hux asked.  
“There’s too much interference,”  
“Distress beacon?” Hux asked. Kylo shook his head.  
“And alert the Resistance?” He started before turning away from Hux ”Besides too much interference,” He leant over the consoles to peer out through the front window to their surroundings, There was nothing within sight. A light below his chest caught his attention and he sat back to see which system had sprung to life. “Hold on. There is a life sign,” Kylo studied it for a moment, he felt out with the force to tell friend from foe. He sprung from his seat when a realisation hit him, 

“It’s a sand worm,” He said as he quickly flicked off all the remaining systems using power, “and we have three minutes. Grab what you need,”  
“I didn’t bring anything,” Hux said, “ you hauled me off that base without so much as my overcoat,”  
“It’s in the back,” Kylo waved to the storage compartment at the rear, “Grab that bag and hold it open for me,” He pointed to a canvas rucksack behind Hux’s shoulder. He input a quick eight digit code into the panel at the side of his seat and two dozen previously invisible panels sprung free in the shuttle. Kylo shot around each and pulled ration bars, medical tech and water sachets from each and piled them all into the bag Hux was holding.

“Why do you have all of this?” Hux asked.  
“Secret compartments or hidden rations?”  
“Both.”  
“Necessity,” He said dismissively. He scooped out the last of the compartments and pulled the bag from Hux’s hands, “We need to go,” On his way out of the door Kylo flipped the distress beacon on. The sound and vibrations would attract the worm’s attention. Beneath his feet the force rumbled with the impending attack the worm’s presence foretold. The ship’s engines were still active and were likely the reason they’d attracted the worm’s attention in the first place. 

They skidded on the sand as they ran from the shuttle and then after about twenty metres Ren stopped suddenly. 

“So we need to randomise our strides otherwise that thing will track us rather than the ship,” Ren shouted to Hux. The drone of the worm beneath the dunes felt like a storm beneath their feet, “Sand worms track repetitive vibrations"  
“There’s a rock formation over there,” Hux pointed over the dunes “If we don’t dehydrate before we get there,” It looked to be at least five miles away over mountainous dunes if the sun wasn’t tricking Kylo’s perceptions.  
“I’ll be fine. My helmet will filter the air,”  
“When we get back to the First order I’ll be sure to commission one for when you next decide to crash land us both on a desert planet,”

A roar cut through the low rumble of the sand dunes and both of them startled to look back towards the shuttle. A giant worm erupted from the sand and the shuttle was swallowed whole. Kylo felt Hux become a cold presence behind him despite the heat. He glanced back to Hux and saw him shudder as the worm plunged back into the sand and they both stumbled in their footing.

“Don’t look back, don’t breathe through your mouth, don’t step evenly,” Kylo said and pushed past him and began to trek toward the rocky outcrop.

Kylo and Hux didn’t speak as they walked. In the heat and the environment it would have been a poor judgement and waste of their personal resources. When he heard Hux began to stumble his ignored it and it was only when Hux grabbed him and attempted to pull the bag from his back in an effort to get to the water that he acknowledged him at all. 

The sun dipped low in the sky and they were lucky to have escaped the midday sun in such a harsh dry place. Still, it would be freezing out on the desert at night and they’d need to reach shelter before the light vanished. 

His head was beginning to pound beneath his heavy black layers of clothing despite the filters and protection the mask gave him. He briefly wondered how Hux was coping with his fair skin and heavy outer clothing. He didn’t look back. 

Kylo estimated they were about a mile off the solid ground beneath their feet when Hux’s footsteps became too even. Kylo crouched and pressed a hand into the sand and felt the shifting dunes for miles around. The force seemed to trickle through the grains.  
“Change your pace, we’ve been noticed,” Kylo said. Hux’s steady pace continued. “You’ll bring hell down on us,” He growled and grabbed at Hux’s sleeve. Hux stumbled but didn't have the strength to pull Kylo off. Hux’s step faltered and one leg folded beneath him. Hux would have fallen to the bottom of the dune bank had Kylo not dug his heels into the sand. 

“Hux, get up,” Kylo ordered. The general didn’t move.  
“I just need a minute,”  
“You stay here you’ll die,”  
“Might as well run me through now then,”  
“I was saving that pleasure for a special occasion,” Kylo unwound the outer scarf around his shoulders and wet it for one of the water sachets before kneeling and wrapping it around Hux’s head and neck. His skin was an ugly red and blisters had begun to crack the skin of his forehead.  
“Don’t talk, you’ll dehydrate quicker,” he pulled Hux to his feet and steadied him with an arm around his back “Next time you stop, I’m leaving you,” 

The last hundred feet to the rocky outcrop seemed like a thousand more. Kylo allowed the force to lead them to the right and a crack in the rock opened into a cavern. Hux was a heavy weight at his side but he still managed the last few steps into shelter before he collapsed against the cooler rocky walls. 

Kylo dropped the bag to the floor beside him and stepped deeper into the cave to investigate how far back their shelter stretched. Towards the back of the cave a carved stairway led up into the rock. It was a dark winding route and Kylo kept his senses heightened for signs of life. The atmosphere felt stifled and the force felt like static in his head. He couldn't place whether the was being blocked or whether there was nothing to sense. 

Kylo continued up the narrow stairway until daylight filtered in. He looked down over a sheltered expanse between the circle of rocks. The sand looked level and raked as opposed to the windswept hills he and Hux had so far witnessed. 

He climbed down the shaded rocked and jumped down the the sheltered sandy patch. He crouched low and scanned the area. A tumbleweed bundle lay nearby and he drew it to him with the force. It shook and dropped to the ground a few feet from him and a light blue glow shimmered from it’s centre. He reached out to touch it and found it soft under his fingertips. He hummed and rolled it to it’s side. 

A shriek went up in the sheer rocky face above him and he froze. A figure shot across between the rocks and disappeared. Kylo raced back up the way he’d come and ducked back into the stairway. 

Kylo raced down the steps and when he reached the base of the stairway a cloaked figure stood between him and Hux.  
“Who are you?” Kylo asked, poised and ready to reach for a weapon should the figure show any signs of a threat. He couldn’t sense their intentions through the force. The figure inclined their head to one side but didn’t move. “You will help us in any way you can,” Kylo ordered. He pressed the force into the person’s mind and found only static in return. The figure stepped forward, one hand raised and Kylo watched them warily. He flinched back when the figure’s hand reached for his mask. They paused and the hand fell to his arm and a patch of exposed skin where his sleeves had folded unevenly. 

_“We will help you however we choose to,”_ The clear voice cut through the static in Kylo’s mind and he breathed in sharply. _“And you will owe us a water debt,”_ The hand tightened on Kylo’s wrist and he clenched his hands into fists.  
“We’ll owe you nothing,” Kylo snarled and pushed his influence towards the hooded figure.  
_“Your magicks won’t influence us,”_ The figure lifted their other hand and slipped their pale hood back to reveal long dark hair, pale brown skin and bright near glowing blue eyes, _“Your friend needs our help,”_  
“Then help,” Kylo shoved them away and pushed past. As he rounded the corner and Hux came into view a smaller hooded figure stood at Hux’s feet where he lay slouched against the wall. Hux glared up at them and there was a knife in his hand.  
“Found some friends, have you?”  
“They said they could help, if we owe them a water debt,” Kylo said watching warily.  
“We’re not currently in a position to discuss terms,” Hux muttered, his voice hoarse and dry.  
“You might not be,” Kylo mused.  
“What planet is this? What language do they speak?” Hux raised his knife again as the smaller hooded figure dropped to their knees beside him. Hux glared as she lifted a hand to him. It looked covered in something in similar consistency to bacta gel with a deep purple colour.  
“I don’t know. They don’t speak,”  
“You just said they said they could help us,”  
“They used the force, or something similar,” Kylo said  
_“A salve for your companion’s sunskin,”_  
“It’s a salve for your skin. Unless you want it to drop off your bones by the time we find our way off this planet,”  
“I’ll apply it thank you,” Hux reached with his free hand and the hooded figure at his side lurched backward. He gestured for them to hand over the pot and they it on the ground in front of Hux and scampered backwards, to behind Kylo and to the unhooded figure. From the corner of his vision he noted how they clasped hands and both nodded sharply before the shorter cloaked figure hurried away. The other stepped up to Kylo’s side and reached for him again. He flinched but allowed the touch.  
_“Our leader will speak with you shortly, while your friend rests. There are more comfortable areas if you can both follow me,”_  
“They have somewhere else for us to rest, then I’m speaking to their leader,”  
“I should be speaking to their leader,” Hux pushed himself to his feet with visible effort.  
“From the image they gave me she’s more of a sand witch. They think she’s half bred with a god,” Kylo said. The remaining figure watched them bicker and then turned and waited for them. Kylo lifted the bag of supplies and nodded for Hux to follow.

“You’ve really crashed us in the middle of nowhere haven’t you,” Hux muttered as he continued to lather the cream over his forearms and his shoulders beneath his clothing as they walked. Hux winced as he twisted and Kylo suspected there were other painful areas that he wasn’t revealing. “If they do know of the Republic they probably won’t be fond of them,”  
“Then what’s your other option for getting out of here?” Kylo hissed.  
“I need to know all the facts first,” Hux said, “and ideally lose this pounding headache,”  
“Bad genetics perhaps?” Kylo asked light heartedly.  
“In comparison to yours, mine are godly,”  
“I guess I should leave you here to be worshipped then,”  
“I’m sure they could be convinced that you wear that godforsaken helmet because you’re a hideously deformed demon,”  
“My helmet allowed me to prevail in conditions you were ready to surrender in,” Kylo snapped and Hux didn’t have the chance to respond before the peson leading them had stooped in theri path.

 

Their guide had paused at a carved doorway and waved them inside. They shared a look and Hux stepped forward and ducked inside first. Kylo cast another look to their guide and followed Hux. the room was lit with a light blue haze from the balls of tumbleweed Kylo had found before and the room was filled with near three dozen hooded figured all knelt on the floor as staring forwards to a woman sat before three cups on a low stone platform. She beckoned them forwards but Hux didn’t see her as he scanned the room.  
“Are they a threat?” Hux asked, his voice low as he turned in to Kylo’s space.  
“I can’t sense anything from them,”  
“Why didn’t you mention that before?” Hux snapped,  
“You didn’t ask. We’re not any worse off for it,” Kylo pushed him forwards as the woman at the head of the room continued to beckon. “I thought you were distrustful of the force anyway,”  
“I can appreciate its advantages,”  
“Stay calm, I think _they_ can sense fear,” Kylo sneered as he pushed past Hux and took a sat on the ground beside the woman. She’d watched their discussion with intrigue and her eyes remained on Hux until he knelt. He kept his back firmly to the wall and his eyes continued to dart around the room. A room full of glowing blue eyes beneath dusty brown hoods. 

“You are not rooting around in my head,” Hux warned as Ishmi reached for him.  
“It’s how they communicate,” Kylo said as Hux twisted out of the way of Ishmi’s outreached fingers.  
“As soon as we get off this planet I’m running you through with your own lightsaber,” Hux growled as he slowly resumed his position and allowed Ishmi to wrap her fingers around his wrist. Kylo waited a moment longer. Atop Hux’s wrist was an a large welted blister that despite being covered with the salve looked raw and painful. Instead, he reached a hand up to the back of Hux’s neck as Hux’s eyes were fixed on Ishmi. His skin was red hot beneath Kylo’s cooler touch of his fingers.

Hux shuddered as both of them mentally reached to include him within their their senses. Kylo curled his fingers around the back of Hux’s neck and pressed as Hux tipped his head back and his eyes slid shut under the pressure of the new sensation. Kylo felt his fear and his pain and how distrustful his was of Ishmi. He couldn’t feel the same response for his own presence in Hux’s mind. Kylo stroked his thumb up and down to sooth the tension growing in Hux’s mind and allowed himself easier access.

 _“Are you okay General Hux?”_ Kylo heard Ishmi ask. She sounded genuine but there was a sharp edge to her tone.  
“You can both go to hell,” Hux growled, his voice dry and rasped as he struggled to breathe. There was too much pressure with all three of them in his mind and his body was forgetting how to function. Kylo felt his breathing stop completely and his heart begin to beat too frantically. Hux’s bloodshot eyes shot open and met Kylo’s desperately. Kylo acted on impulse. He drew Hux towards him with the hand around his neck and mentally forced Ishmi from Hux’s mind with all he could summon within him. 

Ishmi yanked her hand back as if burnt and Hux collapsed against him. A gasped sounded around the room. Two figures at the back to the room had stood and blocked the exit.. Kylo remained within Hux’s mind as his thoughts settled. Kylo tried to sit him up of his own volition but found that Hux had passed out.  
“He’s not force-sensitive, he can’t filter it,” Kylo explained and he repositioned Hux against his side, “And he’s injured, he needs to rest,”  
_“We do not have ‘force-sensitive’. Our children are brought up with the spice. The mind-opener,”_  
“We don’t. Is there somewhere he can rest?” Kylo asked.  
_“You should both rest. I’ve seen where you come from. I will need to discuss with my people whether we shall help you or not,”_ She waved, and the two who had stood at the back of the room to the front. One made to lift Hux from Kylo’s side.  
“Don’t,” Kylo snapped. “I’ll take him,”  
They grunted between themselves and they pointed towards a side door as Kylo lifted Hux in his arms. 

 

The room he was led to was small and the light came from a round hole in the rock face rather than another of the tumbleweed lights. He set Hux down in the shadow and threw pulled his coat over him. If heat stroke hadn’t already set in he’d soon be shivering despite the temperature. The last of the sun had just dipped below the horizon as Kylo looked out of the gap in the rock. He could think of hundreds of sandy planets but none that they should have been able to drop out of hyperspace and crash land on. He took another step forward into the sunlight and looked down over the rock face. His eye was drawn to a shifting in the sand at the base of the rocks. As he watched closer a great worm’s head raised out of the sand and seemed to point straight at him before tipping backwards with a great roar. It felt as though it was calling to him. There wasn’t time to dwell on it. He crossed back to sit against the far wall in the shadows beside Hux. He must have dozed a little since a chill had fallen in the air when he was awoken by Hux shifting beside him.

“Kylo?” Hux croaked as he pushed himself to a sitting position, “What happened?”  
“You fainted. And now we’re supposed to be resting while they decide what to do with us,” Kylo pushed himself out of his slumped position and pressed his back flat against the wall. “There’s still water in our supplies and I kept that tub of salve. How’re your burns?”  
“Numb,” Hux said as he pulled the bag towards him by its straps. “How long have they been deciding what to do?” He asked and Kylo shurgged.  
“Not long,”  
“You’re very calm,” Hux waved to Kylo’s lightsaber at his side, “Haven’t brandished that in frustration yet,”  
“I’ve grown as a person,” Kylo drawled.  
“Yes, but into what?” Hux rolled his eyes and then his gaze returned to the lightsaber at Kylo’s hip  
“It fascinates you doesn’t it.”  
“It unnerves me if you must know,” He huffed.

Kylo pulled it from it’s holder and held it out to Hux who eyed him suspiciously.  
“As long as you don’t switch it on you’ll be fine,”  
“What is this supposed to do?” Hux asked with a raised eyebrow.  
“Distract you. Go on take it,”  
“It’s lighter than I expect it. You wield it like a long sword,”  
“It contains a fractured core, the forces are unbalanced. Makes it heavier,”  
“So it’s broken,” Hux hummed.  
“It’s a classic design,” Kylo said defensively.  
“It’s archaic and dysfunctional,”  
“It works for me,” He shrugged and watched Hux.  
“I will admit the casing is quite elegant,” Hux said and Kylo watched as he trace a finger carefully down the engraved lines of the casing. “Do these markings mean anything?”  
“My blood for my beliefs,” Kylo explained.  
“How appropriate,” Hux hummed and rolled the lightsaber between his hands. “ How well can you fight without the force at your beck and call,”  
“I could take you out,” Kylo said  
“And them?” Hux asked nodding towards the open doorway.  
“Easily,”  
“You may have to prove that,” He muttered as he turned the lightsaber back over to Kylo’s open hand. They both became silent as the echo of footsteps approached their room. He resheathed the saber in its catch at his hip and pulled his clothes over it to cover it from view. 

The posture of the figure who appeared in their darkened doorway looked familiar to Kylo but he’d yet to learn anyone but Ishmi’s name. The hooded person waved them forwards and pointed down the corridor. He pushed himself up to his feet and waited for Hux to do the same beside him. They shared a cautious look between them before moving off as they were directed. 

They’d were returned to the communal room and Ishmi immediately grabbed his arm as he and Hux entered.

 _“We have not decided whether to trust you or not. You intentions are dubious but you have been brought to us and one of you holds potential,”_ Ishmi said.  
“So what does that mean?” Kylo asked.  
_“You will be tested by the gods of sand and spice. Your survival will dictate how we will proceed,”_  
“Their gods are going to test us,” Kylo said as he glanced back to Hux who was trying to keep his eyes on many of the closest ‘threats’ as he could.  
“Wonderful,” He drawled with a quick glance to Kylo.  
_“You will sit with me while you companion waits with my sons,”_  
“They’re separating us. You have to stay here,” Kylo explained and Hux narrowed his eyes.  
“Why?”  
“So they can slit our throats separately,” Kylo muttered and shrugged, “I don’t know,”  
_“You will be tested, your companion will await the completion of your trial by the Gods,”_  
“Ah,” He sighed, “I get tested for the both of us,”  
“This can only go well,” Hux muttered and Kylo turned away from him as Ishmi led his across the room.

 _“A great worm has arrived to foretell a great event in our history,”_ She mentally called out her words to everyone in the room. Kylo felt them repond like an echo in the rocks. They muttered _‘great worm’_ and _‘great one’_ , over and over.

Kylo unclasped his helmet and removed it. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to and the first sight they fell on was Hux staring at him from the other side of the room. He was ready to fight. Kylo would like to see how far across the room he would get with the two short knives in his pockets.

 _“You will drink the water of life and we shall witness your true intentions,”_  
“What will it do?” He asked.  
“ _That will depend on you,_ ”  
“I don’t like surprises,” Kylo scowled and she watched him impassive.  
_“Neither do we,”_ She said, _“Drink,”_ She pulled away and gestured to the cup before him. I was a grey blue liquid like oil on water and it clung to the sides of the cup as he swallowed it down quickly. His stomach lurched and he shot out a hand to brace himself on the ground as his body convulsed forward.

Distantly he heard chanting, voices echoed closer and then distant again. Their presence felt close and suffocating and then he was alone and time seemed to stretch out indefinitely. He was alone and trapped and he couldn’t feel the force. There were images bombarding him and he only caught glimpses of each. They were past and present and future but he couldn’t interpret them or tell their order.  
“What did you do to him?” Hux’s shout cut through his sickness and for a brief moment his vision cleared and Hux stood before him, his hands cupped Kylo’s jaw on either side as his eyes bored into Kyly. Hux’s hands shifted and one hand braced against Kylo’s shoulder as he turned back to the room full of blue eyes. 

“What did you do to him?” He heard Hux demand again. Kylo reached out to Hux. He had to feel something, To know that he wasn’t alone. His hands slid around Hux’s waist as his knees gave way and his forehead dropped to his shoulder. The faces around him were blurring into one.They were turning, their glowing eyes flashing through Kylo’s visions amongst blood and fear.

“They’re coming,” He heard himself mutter and Hux shivered beneath his touch. It felt like an electric current jolting him. Everything in his mind was moving too quickly as everything around him moved too slowly. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t interpret what these images and feelings meant. Hux was there though. Hux, whose image rose above the threats all around them.

“Feel me,” Kylo whispered and allowed his mind to join with Hux’s. Through Hux’s senses his own chaotic thoughts were left behind. He felt his own breath warm on Hux’s shoulder, his hands tight around Hux’s waist. 

There was a wrathful anger in Hux that was brimming at the edges of his consciousness and Kylo could set it loose. Hux wanted to cut every last one of them down. Hux wanted to kill them all for stealing Kylo’s power and presence. Kylo traced Hux’s feelings back to fear of losing himself, fear of losing Kylo, a dream of ruling the galaxy at each other’s side. A beautiful dream. They’d undermine, usurp and kill anyone who stood in their way. Ren’s mind and visions pulled at him like a current dragging him under when Hux’s anger and aggression rolled up again. Kylo’s desperation slipped loose of his own mind and he felt Hux’s thoughts retreat for a moment upon their impact and then pull at them until they’d combined into single thoughts. 

Hux slipped the lightsaber from Kylo’s belt and met Kylo’s eyes through his psychedelic haze. He pushed Kylo away Kylo’s knees buckled as he fell against the wall. Kylo looked on through Hux’s eyes as he stepped forwards and activated Kylo’s lightsaber. His own mind continued to flood him with images, he could see the attacks directed at Hux and with nudges in Hux’s mind the General avoided every one. 

Hux cut through bodies of all size and Kylo felt the blood soak into Hux’s clothes as if they were his own. Hux growled and breathed raggedly through his teeth. Hux sliced through his attackers with barely a thought beyond his and Kylo’s continued welfare. He took a sick and determined pleasure from slicing the saber blade across Ishmi’s throat. The room was a delightfully bloody massacre to him as he turned slowly back to Kylo.

Kylo saw himself leaning heavily against a low ridge in the wall through Hux’s eyes. He was weak and near defenseless but he tried to retreat into his own mind nausea rolled his stomach and he couldn’t think past the blurring of images and sounds infiltrating his mind against his will. Hux stepped closer and Kylo saw that his pupils were dillated and he had been caught in the spray of blood. A trio of droplets ran down his cheek. Kylo’s senses cleared minutely as Hux tipped Kylo’s head up and wiped the blood from his face his thumb. The touch rooted Kylo’s consciousness back into his own body and he looked up at Hux’s bloody face.

“Seems we work well together General,” Kylo rasped, “You enjoyed that,”  
“You were in my head, I didn’t enjoy that,” Hux muttered before an errant thought slipped from Kylo’s mind and infiltrated Hux’s. He cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes on Kylo. “You don’t like death, It feels wrong to you,”  
“They were going to use us for our water,” Kylo said and his throat burned with every word, “It was justified.” He hissed as he tried to swallow against the rising sickness that wrenched through his insides. He felt Hux’s hands steady him firmly.

“What do you need?” Hux asked quietly and Kylo’s whole body began to shake uncontrollably.  
“I, I can’t,” Kylo stuttered as another roll of images swamped him accompanied by nausea and the room seemed too bright. He shut his eyes tightly and felt Hux pull him up to his feet. Hux’s hand pressed against the back of his neck. Kylo slipped back into the calm of Hux’s mind. He was still relishing in his power over others and riding the adrenaline and so closely focussed on Kylo’s every reaction.

“Kiss me,” Kylo asked and Hux didn’t hesitate to draw him in. Kylo’s mind drew him back in as the images and disturbances were diminished by his focus on kissing back and pulling Hux closer. His clenched his fists in Hux’s clothing as he felt the rest of his body begin to shake and he struggled to keep his balance. His mind rebelled and a sharp pain in his temple made him pull away from Hux with a gasp.

“I need to sit down,” Kylo said  
“We still don’t know how we can get off this planet,” Hux muttered as he helped lower Kylo to the floor. Kylo kept his hands around Hux’s clothing until he was forced to sit beside Kylo on the floor. “There’s a Republic ship coming down to investigate the odd behaviour of the worm. We can use their transport to return to the First Order,” Kylo replied absently. It was only once he’d explained that he realised he knew the information at all.  
“When?” Hux asked.  
“I don’t know,” Kylo dropped his head to his hands and pressed his fingers against his aching temples, “I saw it happen though, they’re coming,”  
“You said that before, they’re coming,” Hux said and Kylo saw the image all over again. He shrugged and glanced away to an empty corner of the room. “You should eat,” An offered nutrition bar appeared in the corner of his vision. “No point finding their food stores and then all their food makes us too sick to move,” Hux said as Kylo looked up and took it from him.  
“I’m not sure I can keep this down,”  
“Better to have something else in your stomach than whatever that drug was they gave you,”  
“Thank you,” Kylo nodded and took a small bite from the bar. 

Distantly there was a roar of a sandworm and the stone walls around them vibrated. Both he and Hux breathed deeply and neither commented on the terrifying sound.

“Can you move?” Hux asked after a few minutes.  
“Yes,” Kylo said determinedly. He pushed himself up off the ground and steadied himself on the wall. Hux watched him until he was stood and balanced before standing himself.

Kylo stooped to lift his helmet from the floor.  
“Don’t put that back on,” Hux said as he navigated his way through the bodies to the doorway they’d come through.  
“Why not?” Kylo asked, irritated.  
“ I need to see when your eyes roll back to know when to stop you from falling head first into a wall,”  
“How considerate,” Kylo drawled.  
“Or put it back. I don’t care,” Hux shrugged and looked up and down the corridor by the door. “Which way do you think goes up?”  
“Our room was pretty high up, left,” Kylo suggested and Hux nodded.  
“We get to higher ground we can see that Republic transport coming and flag it down,”  
“It’ll be cold outside now and too hot in the daylight,”  
“As high as we can get with shelter and a good view, unless you’re up to predicting the future a little more accurately,”  
“I’ll meditate as soon as I can, but my mind is still spinning,” Kylo kept his eyes trained on the floor. His was weak and useless. Even when their survival depended on it.  
“We need water, food and sleep while we have a reprieve. We don’t know if there are any more inhabitants that are going to arrive,”

 

Kylo awoke alone and he shivered. His helmet lay a few feet away, upended and dusty. He pushed himself to his feet and glanced around. He took the few steps to the door, turned left again and headed up the stairs higher into the rocks. There was sunlight streaming in; another room that led off from the main stairway. When he looked inside Hux was crouched to the side of a window peering out. He was wearing one of the beige coveralls the sand people had worn. Hux glanced back as Kylo entered the room, his knife raised in his hand and ready for an attack. A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth when his eyes fell on Kylo. Hux quickly looked back to the view from the window. 

“Something’s just landed nearby, stay quiet I’m going to take a look,” He said, his tone hushed as he turned as pushed past Kylo and back into the corridor. Kylo followed him at a short distance. Where the shadows darkened the walkway, his keen eyes continued to follow Hux’s lean and light footed form. Thirty feet down the corridor Hux pulled himself up onto a low ledge and disappeared from view. Kylo hurried to catch up with him. He reached the window ledge in time to see Hux ducked behind a large boulder. Hux peered tentatively round it’s side. Below him was a Republic transport, three uniforms stood nearby, and further below them the worm twisted in the sand. The coverall camouflaged him but his bright hair shone out flame red against the sandy background of the rock. He’d be seen if any of them bothered to look up. 

When Kylo’s eyes fell on the twisting worm in the sands below them he felt it’s torment as his own; it’s frustration at being trapped, unable to travel up into the rocks; it’s pain at losing it’s sister-species to the desert sands. It reared it’s great head up out of the sand and cried out, it’s gaping maw was layered with thousands of shallow teeth. 

The republic guards stumbled back towards their craft and one of them shakily held up a recorder towards the creature. All three were scared and both Kylo and the worm could feel their weakness. Kylo wondered if Hux could see it too; in the way they wouldn’t allow themselves to turn their back to it and every time it called out they flinched, their hands hovered closer to their blasters. Hux kept himself low as he crept forwards and when he was only a few metres away the great worm cried out and Hux shot forwards and cut his knife deep into the throat of the first officer.

By the time the other two uniforms turned Hux had torn the knife from his first victim and launched himself towards the next. The person he turned on dodged out of his way but as they twisted Hux unclipped the blaster from their belt and ducked as the third moved towards him. Hux twisted as he hit the floor and with a slick move he shot the second person at close range and they fell hard to the floor. The third Republic officer and crouched to take the blaster from his fallen comrade as the man’s blood spurted from his neck. Hux’s draw, aim and double shot were faster and the third fell to the ground. Kylo enjoyed watching the dance as much now as in his prior drug addled state.

Hux pulled the coverall over his head and threw it to the ground. He looked up the cliffs, to where Kylo stood watching him, and beckoned him down. Kylo pulled himself up over the ledge, made his way carefully down the rocks at leisure, and after Hux had disappeared not the craft.  
He glanced down at the three fallen bodies. The last of their life force was fading from them; their lungs had gasped their last breaths and their hearts stuttered to silence. 

“Ren! Are you coming?” Hux called and Kylo stepped over the remaining body in his path and climbed the ramp into the shuttle. Hux puttered over the consoles, his bloody footprints dirtied the floor beneath his feet. Kylo glanced around the cabin as he crossed the cabin and the door raised shut behind him. He glanced up as Kylo stepped into the cockpit space, “You look like you’re about to say something infuriating,”  
“There’s a tracker in all Republic ships, They’ll trace it when that lot don’t check in,”  
“And if the First Order goes to war with the Republic over anything it’s going to be the theft of a ship from a barren desert planet,” Hux drawled, irritated.  
“I could disengage it,” Kylo said  
“Then why haven’t you already,” Hux said as he turned back to Kylo before he realised how little room there was between them. His eyes darted down quickly before he levelled his eyes on Kylo’s defiantly. 

“You’re stood in front of the console,” Kylo said and he stepped further into Hux’s space before Hux could move out of the way. Hux braced his hands against the dashboard behind him as Kylo leant over him and disengaged the tracker with ease. “There,”  
“No one will find out about us,” Hux asked, his voice low and quiet.  
“No,” Kylo assured him but he didn’t step back.  
“Convenient,” Hux hummed.  
“If that’s what you want,” Kylo said. He lowered his head and looked up at Hux.  
“Are you in your right mind now?” He asked.  
“As balanced as ever,” Kylo shrugged as he hovered over the General.  
“Then now isn’t the time,” Hux pushed him away and slid into the pilot’s seat, “Sit down. We’ve got to get back,” Kylo turned and leant against the console at Hux’s side.  
“Hux,” Kylo said. Hux hummed but ignored him as the engines initiated, “Hux, look at me,”  
“What?” Hux’s eyes snapped up.  
“You are the most frustrating, infuriating man I’ve ever met,”  
“I could have guessed that,” Hux said and he rolled his eyes. “Although your current look might be misinterpreted,”  
“And yet you know exactly what I want,”

“What you want- always what you want,” Hux growled as his hand wrapped around Kylo’s shirt front and yanked him down sharply. He caught himself on Hux’s seat and hovered there only inches away from him. “Better make it good Ren,” Hux said, his voice low as his hand traced further up Kylo’s chest. Hux closed the gap between them and pulled Kylo forward until he straddled Hux and cupped Hux’s face in his hands. Hux moaned as Kylo focussed his attention down his neck and hairline, Hux’s hand twisted in his hair and Kylo bared his teeth against Hux’s throat. Hux pushed him away again. When Kylo met his eyes Hux lowered his gaze and momentarily bit his bottom lip. Kylo traced the movement with his eyes and revelled in having brought out such a visceral reaction.

“If you don’t want to forget this ever happened, come see me when we’re not a thousand parsecs from our comfort zones,” Hux said slowly, his eyes stayed below Kylo’s, levelled at his shoulder and collarbone.  
“I’ll make an appointment in your diary,” Kylo rolled his eyes and scowled.  
“After you’ve been to medical,” Hux said as he shoved Kylo into the co-pilot seat and he fell back obligingly, “For all I know you’re still poisoned or high on something,”

“Fair enough,” Kylo shrugged, “I’ll have to have another helmet made,” He mused. His fingers traced his bottom lip and he looked across at Hux who was concentrating on getting the out of the planet’s gravity. He dropped his hand to his side and pressed his head into the back of the seat.  
“You left your helmet on the planet?” Hux asked. Kylo didn’t reply, “Snoke won’t be pleased,”  
“With you or me?” Kylo asked. It was his fault. He knew it was his fault.  
“You crashed us here, I’m getting us back,”  
“I’ve discovered the spice these people use to influence the Force. Snoke will want to know about that,”  
“And how you were drugged and nearly died,” Hux muttered as he reached to his left to flick on several switches and input new coordinates.  
“I didn’t nearly die,” Kylo muttered as he brushed sand from his sleeves.  
“You looked like death,” Hux said as the ship cut through the atmosphere into open space.  
“So did you, with your skin covered in blisters,” Kylo snapped.

“It felt like you were dying,” Hux said, “You were in my head and I was waiting for you to take your last breath,” Kylo watched as Hux kept his eyes on the console in front of him. His arm shook as his hand clenched around the hyperdrive lever. Kylo reached a hand out and pressed the flat of his palm to the back of Hux’s neck; his cool hand against Hux’s warm skin. He shivered at the touch and then tipped his head back against the touch.  
“This can last a while yet,” Kylo said. It felt like a promise.


End file.
